Girls' Brigade

On Tuesday evenings OBC echoes to the noise of the 1st Orpington Girls’ Brigade Company.

Girls Brigade is a Christian, international charity working alongside girls and young women of every background ability and culture.  Our company is one of the thousand or so spread throughout England and Wales committed to the GB motto of “Seek, serve and follow Christ.”

OBC currently runs sections for all the GB age range from Explorers (start at five years of age) through to Juniors, Seniors and Brigaders.  Our leaders are trained and committed Christian women.  During the year, starting in September, our girls progress through the GB badge award scheme.  Our intention is for them to have fun, learn and develop skills, receive Christian teaching and make friends as they do so.

Judge how close to the mark we get from this recent survey of Junior girls.  Asked why they like GB, they said:

- Because we do cooking and games and camping
- It is fun and to see my friend
- I like learning about a lot of things I like going to camp
- We can learn about Jesus and I like doing the different activities
- I want to learn about Jesus
- They do a lot of activities and cooking and I also like playing in the band
- The fun parts about GB are cooking, dancing and going to camp..
- and of course “to get away from our brothers.” - Well, you can’t win them all!!

The company takes part in a range of activities.  The most regular of these is the weekly evening but monthly church parades are held during term time.  The parades are joint events with OBC’s Boys’ Brigade company and the Sunday morning service is geared to the companies’ members and their supporting friends, relatives and parents.

Among big band revivals must be counted 1st Orpington GB’s.  After a long gap company members have picked up their instruments to bang drums and blow trumpets once more.  Under able leadership they made their debut at the recent display to tumultuous applause and we look forward to the band developing and increasing.

A long-standing tradition of the company is the annual display which the girls and officers put on for supporters. Recently this has become a joint display with our BB company but next year – who knows??

Camp features on the menu for many GB companies.  1st Orpington has experience of week-long camps for older girls in venues as distant as Wales, and has been gaining experience more recently with weekend camps closer to home for our Juniors.  The company has enjoyed using other churches and Outward Bound types of centres as the bases for their camps but can link in with national events for the true outdoors.

GB has its own award scheme but many companies look for every opportunity to extend their girls.  At OBC we are building up a programme leading to the Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards, at Bronze, Silver and Gold levels, and results so far are most encouraging.  Whenever possible we look for activities within the company to count towards the credit needed but encourage activities outside to maintain girls’ momentum and motivation.

GB is a uniformed organisation and girls in each section wear the appropriate items.  The company has a scheme which allows girls to progress through the sections without the cost of the uniform being a burden to those who pay their bills!!

The company is staffed by volunteers but other costs arise.  These include the materials for the activities and obligatory insurance cover met by payment to the national GB.  For these reasons the company charges all girls a subscription – usually payable termly or each year.

The Company's Welcome Pack contains more information about the company, weekly meeting night arrangements, company code of conduct, etc.  To request a copy, contact Karen Hicks or via the church office.

For more information on Girls’ Brigade’s Awards and on GB nationally and internationally visit the GB National website.